<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>What Was Found in an Echo by Alfastanna_Thackeray</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28545462">What Was Found in an Echo</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alfastanna_Thackeray/pseuds/Alfastanna_Thackeray'>Alfastanna_Thackeray</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Introspection, lws4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:21:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>515</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28545462</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alfastanna_Thackeray/pseuds/Alfastanna_Thackeray</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>While witnessing a battle from long ago, Commander Soulbrand stumbled upon a piece of history that she, like many, had assumed was lost to the sands of time. But here, in this temporal echo it reminds her of what this fight has cost her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Trahearne/Female Player Character (Guild Wars), Trahearne/Player Character (Guild Wars)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What Was Found in an Echo</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Finding that Orrian poem that Trahearne loved gave me some honey-nut feelios. This was already posted to my tumblr, so I figured I would drop it in here. Just to clarify, the poem at the end is from Guild Wars 2, I had no hand in authoring it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She was past this, she was sure of it, she was past this. It wasn’t supposed to hurt anymore, she had moved on from that dark night shrouded in vines. She had accepted what happened and she was living her life in his memory, as he had asked. So how, how, did one stone tablet leave her crumbling as if only seconds had passed since she had been forced to slide Caladbolg between his ribs? It hadn’t stung like this in a very long time, not even since reliving her life and all of those wretched memories in The Domain of The Lost.</p><p>And yet, ten simple lines have sent her crashing to her knees in the middle of a battle long since passed with sobs wracking her small frame. She remembers this poem. She remembers countless moments shared before sunrise agonizing over the missing line, the scholar in both of them craving the final piece. She remembers poring over possibilities and lying next to him while they camped on cliffsides after the Cleansing and after ridding the world of Zhaitan. The moments they had shared as they explored the treasures and secrets of Arah, finding troves of knowledge and scores of poems and songs and epics, but never finding the last piece of his favorite.</p><p>Until now. And now the wound in her heart has been torn open again, by something so small, yet so powerful. She had never wished he was here more than she did now, if only to see this. Within seconds she berates herself for the thought, Trahearne wouldn’t want to be thrown again onto the claws of an Elder Dragon, especially after it was her mistakes and her failures that empowered it enough to seemingly rend reality asunder. She shouldn’t want him here at the epicenter of yet another war, yet another calamity. But, but if he were here, maybe she could breathe again, as she did before, maybe she wouldn’t feel so alone, maybe ....... maybe she could lay her staff down, for only a moment, and be held in a way she hasn’t been in what feels like a lifetime.</p><p>She hears the crackle of her communicator, a concerned Taimi at the other end, and rises. In her pack she manages to find enough parchment and charcoal to take a rubbing of the tablet. After tucking it safely away, she climbs down from that tower and leaves the battlefield echoes behind. When this is over, when she finally has the time, she will take the finished poem to the Grove, read it to him and pretend that he can hear her.</p><p>“Darkness pays Orr a visit.<br/>With billowing robes of blackened silk,<br/>She beckons us, arms outstretched.<br/>I see my brothers walk forward, greet her as a friend.<br/>So many fold themselves into her embrace.<br/>And even over their cries, and the roars of the beasts.<br/>I hear Darkness call to me with a promise.<br/>But I close myself. I will not join her yet.<br/>Another call is more beautiful,<br/>And I will chase it back to you.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Aaaaaahhh, that poem though! It's one of my favorite pieces of flavor text from the whole game. Thank you for reading! I really appreciate it and I'd love to hear any thoughts you might have.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>